GUWAHATI: With the city roads seeing an ever-increasing number of cars over the past few years, the complaints against automobile companies too are growing by the day.
This is evident from the number of cases being filed at the district consumer disputes redressal forum (DCDRC) against automobile companies. Additionally, some of these cases are registered against some of the prominent automobile companies including Mercedes, and Audi.
Authorities at the DCDRC of Kamrup (Metro) district informed G Plus that consumers nowadays have become more mindful of their rights and they are increasingly approaching the consumer court with their grievances. Talking about cases against automobile companies in particular, officials said that complaints have been filed against big companies for negligence in providing proper service.
“We are seeing many such cases being filed here every month. In a recent example, a resident of Dispur filed a complaint against Mercedes Benz Private Limited and the company’s authorised dealer and service provider in Guwahati,” informed member of the DCDRC, Archana Deka Lahkar.
In his complaint, he claimed that he had purchased a Mercedes ‘C’ class car from Guwahati in February 2017. He then went on a trip to Bhutan with his family in June 2017 when he alleged that he noticed some anomalies in the car.
The complainant has claimed that on his return, he immediately took the car to the said service provider in Guwahati. However, he had to wait for more than two months due to unavailability of an engineer with the service provider.
The engineer then inspected and identified the problem with the car and advised the complainant to change a few parts. Further, these parts had to be brought in from outside the state and took two weeks to reach Guwahati.
The complainant further mentioned that he was taken aback by the fact that a brand new car which had been driven for just 2,000 kilometres, had developed technical issues within three months. He has filed for a compensation of Rs 6 lakhs in this case.
“The case is still under trial and the compensation amount is yet to be decided upon,” said Lahkar.
Similarly, several other cases against automobile companies have been filed at the DCDRC mostly for manufacturing defects, said officials.
Such manufacturing defects have become common and have come to the fore in several instances. One such incident occurred in February this year when the front wheel of the renowned SUV company Jeep’s Compass came off within hours after the car’s delivery in Nagaon.
Jayanta Phukan, the owner of the car bought it from a showroom in Guwahati and was shocked to find that the car broke down within a few hours of the delivery when the front wheel with drive shafts came out. Phukan somehow managed to stop the car.
However, responding quickly to the issue, the company issued a statement saying that they attended to the problem immediately and resolved it within 24 hours. They added that they are investigating the incident thoroughly to prevent any further cases.
The district consumer disputes redressal forum deals with dispute cases whose value is up to Rs. 20 lakhs- which is the maximum compensation which can be claimed in the district-level consumer court. Cases with a value of Rs 20 lakhs – Rs 1 crore are taken up by the state consumer disputes redressal commission. Above them is the national consumer disputes redressal commission which hears disputes where the total claim and compensation amount exceeds Rs 1 crore.
On the other hand, the state level consumer court too has been witnessing cases being filed of a similar nature. The state consumer disputes redressal commission (SCDRC) had recently received a case against the leading automobile company Audi. The complainant, Manik Ali, has filed a case for manufacturing defects in the car. However, the case is still under trial and the compensation is yet to be decided, informed authorities.